Vol. 7, Issue 1, Part A (2025)

Background: Vision related concerns, such as age-related macular degeneration, cataract and glaucoma, are rising globally. Given the prevalence of eye concerns in the community, ophthalmic preparedness as an intern would contribute significantly toward service delivery in the community. Ophthalmic medical student education provides a cornerstone for fostering eye health competency amongst the interns. Our study serves to assess intern preparedness for ophthalmic management and assess the effectiveness of the current teaching framework in delivering basic ophthalmic competence in the management of common and red flag eye conditions across multiple teaching sites. 
Methods: This is a multi-site qualitative study across three tertiary teaching hospitals planned over a five-year period; first year results are presented in this report. Interns at each respective hospital were invited to participate in the survey of 20 multiple choice questions, focusing on a spectrum of eye conditions, including common and potentially vision and life-threatening disorders. The survey also included one question regarding each participant’s level of confidence in assessing eye conditions on a 5-point Likert scale. 
Results: There were 189 participants in total, with 183 surveys included in the analysis. The mean total score for all interns was 13 out of 20 (SD 2.5). The mean confidence score across all participants was 2.1 out of 5.0 (SD 1.0) which corresponded with being “slightly confident”. Only 1 in 10 interns responded that they were fairly or fully confident. Overall, interns who underwent formal ophthalmology placement during medical school (M = 13.75, SD = 2.30) scored significantly higher compared to those who did not have an ophthalmology placement [(M = 12.20, SD = 2.56); t(181) 4.33, p<.001]. Interns who undertook ophthalmology placements during their medical school (M = 2.52, SD = 0.96) also felt more confident in recognizing and managing eye conditions compared to those who did not have an ophthalmology placement during medical school [(M = 1.72, SD = 0.93); t(180) 5.69, p<.001]. 
Conclusion: Our results support adopting a standardized, mandatory curriculum in ophthalmology with a minimum 5-day placement across medical schools, both in Australia and worldwide.